Well, SteveM, Rush are definitely still going strong! Their newest album, Snakes and Arrows almost topped the Billboard album chart a few months back and all the good seats sold out when Rush played Phoenix in July (an outdoor venue, too!). I managed to snag one of the precious few copies of Snakes... issued on vinyl (180-gram vinyl, at that!![Thumbs Up [tup]](/emoticons/icon_smile_thumbsup.gif)
), and although I was disappointed in much of the music (too many slow songs and structures that sounded alike), the opening cut "Far Cry" is a goodie, and as usual, Neil Peart always has interesting things to say.
Have you ever read Neil's books? He's had three published: Ghost Rider, a book about how he got over the tragic deaths of his daughter and first wife by riding around the country on a small motorcycle; Travelling Music: The Soundtrack to my Life and Times, about a trip to Big Bend National Park in Texas he took while driving a top of the line BMW sports car and the music he listened to, both in the car and while growing up (this one's become a "desert island" book for me) and Roadshow: Landscape With Drums, about the band's 2004 tour. All are excellent reads, although Ghost Rider, by the nature of its subject matter gets heavy and depressing at times.